Acquity Columns - can they be recycled anyhow?

RobBurgess
RobBurgess
in Instrumentation and Mass Spectrometry
<p>I've just had a column die on me I think (getting peak splitting) and tried with another two columns of the same packing format and it is ok with these.</p><p></p><p>Just seems a bit of a waste to throw away. Can they be unpacked and repacked with new frits perhaps? Can they e-cord be wiped? </p>

Comments

  • dougm
    dougm

    Hi Rob,

    We get asked this question from time to time. As a rule, we don't recycle columns that have been used by customers for the following reasons:

    1. The hardware used in ACQUITY UPLC columns has a number of features that makes repacking them to the required level of stability and efficiency (i.e., quality) extremely difficult and unpredictable on a commercial basis. It can be done on an individual-column basis, but not on a commercial scale.

    2. We cannot dispose of any packing material that contains unknown chemical or biological contaminants. Waters is not willing to take the risk associated with what has or has not been injected onto used LC columns.

    On your end there is no harm in swapping out an inlet frit to see if the column's usable lifetime can be extended. Afterall, the column is 'dead' at this point.

    I hope this helps.

    --Doug

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